


Sokka should have had a shoulder injury instead of/alongside the contrived leg injury

by Teshka



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone except Sokka Toph and Katara are only mentioned, Gen, He's not actually integral to the story, Hurt/Comfort, I may come back to this and change it, I wrote this in about an hour, I'm Not A Medical Professional, It hasn't been edited yet, ozai is mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:47:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26261365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teshka/pseuds/Teshka
Summary: When ATLA got on Netflix of course I binged it even though I own physical copies. And then Sokka got his leg injury and I sat there thinking "What leg injury?? That boy clearly has a shoulder injury but I guess y'all don't want to go there". I recently read a Zukka fic where Sokka's leg keeps him in the fire nation and it was really lovely and Toph helped him with his leg and gave him advice and Zuko sparred with him and took care of him and I thought maybe I can put this into words. So I pulled up Netflix and fast forwarded my way through Sozin's Comet to get the plot points right(ish), and whack this out. As it states in the tags I have not edited this. I wrote it in 45 minutes to an hour maybe. I may come back and edit it, if you notice anything please feel free to let me know and I'll fix it.Also I'm not a medical professional, I only took anatomy in high school and college and really only paid attention to bones. I have no experience with leg injuries, I have broken my feet though. My dad wrecked his shoulder when I was a kid and that's where I got the scar tissue thing from.TLDR I needed a Sokka hurt shoulder fic and so here it is.
Relationships: Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Sokka & Toph
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	Sokka should have had a shoulder injury instead of/alongside the contrived leg injury

**Author's Note:**

> When ATLA got on Netflix of course I binged it even though I own physical copies. And then Sokka got his leg injury and I sat there thinking "What leg injury?? That boy clearly has a shoulder injury but I guess y'all don't want to go there". I recently read a Zukka fic where Sokka's leg keeps him in the fire nation and it was really lovely and Toph helped him with his leg and gave him advice and Zuko sparred with him and took care of him and I thought maybe I can put this into words. So I pulled up Netflix and fast forwarded my way through Sozin's Comet to get the plot points right(ish), and whack this out. As it states in the tags I have not edited this. I wrote it in 45 minutes to an hour maybe. I may come back and edit it, if you notice anything please feel free to let me know and I'll fix it. Honestly this got away from me. It was not going to have a crying session with Katara and Sokka, but they wanted it so it happened. Toph had to get a moment because I love her. And of course everyone else had to come in and be chaotic. 
> 
> Also I'm not a medical professional, I only took anatomy in high school and college and really only paid attention to bones. I have no experience with leg injuries, I have broken my feet though. My dad wrecked his shoulder when I was a kid and that's where I got the scar tissue thing from. 
> 
> TLDR I needed a Sokka hurt shoulder fic and so here it is.

After jumping from airship to airship, ensuring Toph stayed within range, Sokka was feeling pretty good. Toph turned the rudder with her kickass metalbending, but then the firebender chased them over the side of the airship. Sokka did his absolute best to hold on to Toph while attempting to slow them down with his space sword, but falling on the walkway while Toph’s momentum carried her downwards? That was almost too much. Tightening his grip and focusing every muscle on making sure she didn’t fall to her death? Agonizing. Doing all of that after breaking his leg? His brain was giving him so many different kinds of signals he wasn’t sure he knew where to focus. 

When the firebenders came out on their tie lines to the walkways parallel to him he knew what he had to do; Boomerang came back, but Space Sword… And then more firebenders arrived. Toph was slipping, and Suki arrived in the nick of time. When Toph and Sokka landed on the top of the airship, all he could focus on was his leg and how much it hurt. Toph and Suki helped him into the airship so they could get back to the ground and regroup with Aang and check in with Ozai. Of course Sokka had to tell Aang how cool he was, and how lame Ozai was, not to mention cringing at Suki’s attempt at shaming him. However, it wasn’t until they had all gotten back to the Fire Nation’s palace and met up with Katara and Zuko that Sokka realized anything else was wrong. 

“Sokka, what happened to your shoulder?” Katara shrieked. Sokka looked down at his arm and shoulder and realized his arm was hanging funny.   
He had enough brain power to retort, “Would you look at that…” before the pain and shock caught up to him and he passed out. 

He came to hearing Katara muttering above him about what an idiot he was.

“Rude little sister… aren’t you supposed to be nice to patients?” He heard her breath hitch before she lightly slapped him on his right shoulder, ignoring his muffled “Ow.”

“Don’t you dare do that to me ever again, you hear? Running around and gesticulating with a broken collar bone, dislocated shoulder, and pulled muscles and ligaments? I knew you could be dumb sometimes, but this was a whole new level for you!” He grimaced up at her, and her expression softened, “What happened while you and Toph were running around? She could only give me bits and pieces, and you were fine before Suki left.” She looked at him imploringly. He sighed and glanced away, trying to clarify his blurry memories. 

“We went airship hopping, and then I had Toph pull the rudder so we changed course to run the rest of the airships down. We only made it to the next one over before crashing, and then as soon as we made it to the top of the airship, a firebender came out of the hatch and chased off the side of the ship. I held on to Toph with everything I had, but I had to slow us down with Space Sword. It worked for a little bit, until I ran out of airship to cut through. I landed on the walkway and Toph kept falling. I felt a pull as I held on to her, but then there were two firebenders right there, and I threw Boomerang and Space Sword at them… Space Sword didn’t come back.” His eyes stung, “Then more firebenders came out. I knew we were goners, and then another airship crashed into us, the firebenders were thrown away, and I saw Suki. In the moment, my shoulder twinged a bit, but my leg had the sharpest pain. And then we put the ship down by Aang and Ozai…” He looked back at her ruefully, “I think you know the rest.” He closed his eyes for a moment and heard Katara take a steadying breath. 

“Well I’m glad you’re alright, all of you. You were really brave to take care of Toph the way you did.” She chuckled wetly, “In fact, she wouldn’t get out of my way as I was trying to heal you, she kept going on about you being okay. She was really worried. We all were.” She looked down at him again, this time with glossy eyes. She sniffled and swiped the first tears away before they could fall, “I spent so much energy healing Zuko and checking Aang that I didn’t even look at you--” She cut off, holding her hand to her mouth as though to keep the sobs back. Sokka reached up to touch her cheek, trying to ground her and comfort her all in one. 

“Hey it’s okay, I’m here and you’ve healed me. Everything’s alright now.” She choked and lunged forward, hugging him as tight as she could without hurting him too much more. He leaned his head into her shoulder and reached around with his right arm, keeping his left arm as prone as possible. He laid there for a while, letting her cover him, sobbing into his shoulder. Eventually, he lifted up his left forearm to try to comfort her more, but she only cried harder. So he started reassuring her with platitudes and pet her hair the way their mother used to. 

Eventually her breathing evened out from hiccuping sobs to normal breathing and she pulled back from him, looking for reassurance in his eyes. He gave her a tired smile and she gave him a watery one right back. He reached up and wiped her face with his sleeve the way he did when she was small. 

“There you are, it’s alright.” 

She snorted, “I should be telling you that, not the other way around.” She sat up, cleared her throat, and looked around for her water pouch. She grabbed it and uncorked it, bending the water and making it glow before lowering her hands to his shoulder. Sokka hissed at the cold water contacting his feverish skin, and then relaxed as he felt the water roving to work to heal his muscles down to the bone. 

“You sure you have the energy to heal me more right now? I know you were healing me before I woke up, and that was a pretty big cry just now. You must be exhausted.”   
She chuckled, “Shut up. Of course I have the energy to heal you, I’ll always have the energy to heal you. Besides, the sooner I can heal the majority of your injuries, the less they’ll affect you in the future.” 

He hummed in response, looking at the ceiling and zoning out while feeling the itch as she mended his tissue to be back the way it should be. 

He heard thudding in the hallway and that was the only warning he had before Toph threw the door open yelling, “He’s awake and you didn’t tell me?” 

Katara tried to hush her, “He needs quiet to heal, and you stomping around isn’t going to help any!” She turned her head back to Sokka embarrassed, “Besides, I knew you needed the rest too.” 

Any retort Toph had died on her lips as she paused before stomping over to Sokka’s side opposite Katara and threw herself down on the floor. She lifted her fist as though to punch him but since she was on his injured side, she dropped her fist to her side. Sokka reached over to carefully hold her hand, squeezing it.

“I want you to know that I’m smiling at you.” 

Toph turned her head partially away without saying anything, but she squeezed his hand back. After a minute he heard a quiet, “Thanks.” He smiled and tightened his grip again. 

Then there was more thumping in the hallway and this time Aang was yelling in the doorway, flanked by Momo, Suki, and Zuko. They all crowded into the room talking over each other, and all Sokka could do was smile as Katara frowned and tried to get three teenagers and a lemur to settle down while she continued her session on his shoulder. With everyone in the room illustrating their health, Sokka thought that he could rest a little while longer, and leave the big brother role for the time being. 

Months later, Sokka could tell a change in the weather with both his shoulder and his leg. Collar bones are tricky to heal regardless of a sister’s magic healing bending, and his leg had been damaged in enough places to warrant him moving a little slower than he used to. Everyone was very patient with him though, and supported him through his aches and pains. Katara had hope that his leg would eventually give him less trouble, but his shoulder would likely not be the same for years to come due to inevitable scar tissue gumming up the joint. However, he had learned some stretches from Suki and Ty Lee, Toph was always willing to give him crushing massages, and Zuko was frequently available for sparring, when he wasn’t off running his country.

**Author's Note:**

> Sokka petting Katara's hair like I think their mom would have when they were sick or sad? I'm weak. Sokka comforting Toph? I'm weak.   
> Bits of this are me projecting things that have happened to me and the people around me so. 
> 
> Again, if you saw anything that looked weird, if I made a spelling or grammar mistake, if there's a plot/something I missed, let me know. 
> 
> If you liked it, feel free to Kudos if that pleases you, comment if you wish. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
